In 2001 I published a
book called Stigma: How We Treat Outsiders. The word Stigma is Greek
and means “to prick with a needle”. In ancient Athens, 115,000 of the 315
thousand inhabitants were slaves. These slaves were forced to wear a stigma
introduced into their skin so that their owners could be identified.

In more recent times a
stigma was a sign sewn on a garment. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a novel called The
Scarlet Letter which describes the fate of Hester Prynne, who lived in 17th
Century Puritan Boston. A married woman who became pregnant while her husband
was in England, she was denounced as an adulteress and forced to wear the
letter A on all her clothes. She was also excluded from the Puritan community
and had to live in a cabin alone with her child.

Today, we no longer sew
letters on the clothes of stigmatized people. We do, however, still use verbal
stigmas and exclude those who carry them. In the Jewish community,
“Holocaust Survivor” or “German Jewish refugee” are stigmas which
cannot be overcome. Like Hester Prynne, those who are so stigmatized are
excluded by the Jewish community and kept at a distance, only to be
interrupted on occasion by demands for money.

It has now been 60 years
since the end of the Second World War. Therefore only a few Jews who actually
saw the Nazi horrors are still with us. They are so old that the stigma
imposed on them by the American Jewish community cannot be reversed, so that
we can say with confidence that the survivors were never welcome here and that
to the end they are viewed as an opprobrium or people who bring disgrace on
the natives.

Those of us who have
traveled somewhat in this country are of course aware that strangers are
seldom welcome in our synagogues. I have experienced this from San Diego to
Palm Beach. No one greets a stranger who visits a synagogue. This kind of
rejection is therefore not limited to holocaust survivors. Years ago I was
even ejected from a Philadelphia synagogue because I had no money.

What is true of our
synagogues is also true of our Jewish organizations. They collect money all
the time. Strangers telephone and demand money for all kinds of obscure
causes. No one is told what happens to all the money collected. It seems to
disappear just as the United Way money disappears. Neither the poor nor the
sick nor the needy get one cent. So where is the money? If we ask ,we are told
the “the funds have been allocated” to this or that agency. Now, what do
the “agencies” do with the money collected under the guise of charity?
Well, the truth is that is goes to the vast salaries of elitist insidious
sycophants.

For example, Steven
Hoffman, executive of United Jewish Communities in New York City, was paid
$491,000 in 2003. His predecessor, Stephen Solender, received “only”
$450,000. Robert Aronson, CEO of the Detroit Jewish Federation, “earned”
$381,000 last year and the lifelong boss of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, was paid
$379,000 in ’03. Even Rabbi Marvin Hier, the executive of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, took $450,000 from the collections for
himself last year. Therefore Rabbi Hier earns the same as the President of the
United States, who is paid a salary of $400,000 and in addition receives a
$50,000 expense account. The other executives mentioned here earn more than
the President of the U.S. U.S. Senators and Representatives earn
$150,000 a year.

We could go on and on
and list innumerable other vast incomes collected by the CEO’s and others
“working” for our charities.

It should be known that
the “lesser” lights in these organizations earn very little. Even in
expensive Los Angeles, the social workers in Jewish organizations are the
working poor who earn $15,000 a year if they are lucky.

Add to these salaries
the income of all the assistant executives, the fancy office rents, travel and
other expenses, and it is evident that there is next to nothing left for the
poor and the truly needy among us.

It is of course true
that one cannot be Jewish if one does not contribute to the community. We must
give to synagogues. This is not for us to chose; this is our duty as the Torah
commands. It ought to be understood, however, that the Torah prohibits the
poor from giving charity. Someone who is exceedingly poor may not give his
“last cent”. That is a sin and the organizations ought not to accept money
from the poor. Our duty is to give to the poor. Not to building programs and
certainly not to outrageous salaries. We do not owe our money to those who
dine out at expensive kosher restaurants nor to “expense accounts”.

Therefore, we need to
deliver our gifts to the poor themselves. Here is how it is done. Get the
address of a poor Jew and during the night leave a box of food or clothes at
his doorstep. If he lives in an apartment house, leave the box, then ring the
bell and run out of there as fast as possible so the recipient cannot know who
gave the contents of the box. Never reveal that you gave anything. Keep it
anonymous.

We must also support
synagogues since Judaism cannot exist if we have no Beth Hamidrosh. Here
anonymous giving is also of great help.